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So before I got divorced, I moved and got a new bank account. I closed the old one. But before I closed my Suntrust account, I filled out forms with my various employers for a change in direct deposit of my pay checks. This was July 18th. I closed my account in mid August.

One of my employers still hadn't fixed the direct deposit...money went to my old account and Suntrust RE-OPENED the account in early September. It wasn't a problem, I got the money out. The employer promised they had the direct deposit squared away so I closed the checking account again. Only they were wrong and last week another employer check went to the OLD account.

Well....GET THIS...

So Suntrust opened my account, accepted the paycheck and then SEIZED it! They took it because I am late on my home equity loan, which daaaaaaa, my attorney told me not to pay it because we are selling the home on a short sale (pre-foreclosure). So I went into the bank and told them to give me me money.

"No, Ma'am, we can't do that..."

They handed me some small print flyer about a law that says they can seize income in a checking account any time they want if you're late on a loan (I am 30 days late....closer to 60 days).

Isn't that HORRIFYING?! I can't get that money out.

Thank God for Ramen noodle soup and kids who always take it in stride when we have lean times.

Later, I ripped my employer a new one and they AGAIN promised to have my next check (Thursday next week) deposited to the correct account. If they fail to do that... I won't be working there any more. I do not work for free and I'm already so in the fricken hole, not that they or anyone really cares.

Anyway...WOE. I hope that you learn from my mistake and this never happens to you!

9/21/2008 05:35:00 PM |
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5
comments:

Its like a bloody domino effect once things start to go bad everything follows,I just keep telling myself it's got to get better soon and that this too will pass, but I wish it would bloody well hurry up and do so .Who'd be a 1965 aquarian at the moment if they are all having our luck:)

my friend had an issue like that. I wonder if you can have your employer stop payent on the check and then re-issue you one to the correct account? just a thought. this is why i don't like DD, but since i work for a local government, i don't have a choice, you have to have DD to get paid. if it's any consolation, i'd rent a place to you Alex and you too, Doreen, but neither of you want to live anywhere near where I call home.

Lesson here is keep all accounts seperate! Mortgage one place, credit card another, savings a third, checking yet another. If you have a business, open its accounts in a different bank than your personal one.

This saved my skin when my ex-partner cleaned out the business account. I had a personal account at that bank just to get some perks, but it only had $40 in it - which was taken to cover checks that were written on the business account because I was a signatory on it, of course!

Also, beware of the Universal Default Clause 95% of banks have, which allows them to raise your credit card rates to obscene levels if you miss or ar late on any payment anywhere. I have to give kudos to Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union, the ONLY card that did not jump to over 18% (and some to 29.99%!!) when I mistakenly wrote a payment check for $300 instead of the $310 minimum.